What to Refinish and How

Puzzling over what to do about my sadly deteriorated Proteus, I've been browsing links to various frame painters and looking at all the styles that might apply. I don't know how many people find themselves wondering what to do with their frame. I suspect most just park it until it deteriorates into uselessness and then dump it or sell it on eBay for some hipster to knock the braze ons off.

So in my wanderings, I find the CyclArt web site. They are a highly regarded painter, restorer and refinisher of bikes. In the questions section is an informative discussion of how to decide whether a particular bike requires refurbishment, restoration or repainting and about what this will cost. You should go read the whole thing, but this excerpt boils it all down.

Select the most appropriate from each of the following three groups then add the number of each option together to get a recommendation.

Is your bike:

1. Rare, with provenance and very high value

2. Rare & interesting with high value

3. Popular classic with good value

4. Common with moderate value

5. Unpopular or low value

Consider it’s condition:

1. Near perfect original

2. Slightly blemished

3. Poor condition

4. Unsatisfactory refinish

5. Significant rust or damage

What is your intention?

1. Preservation

2. Resale

3. Vintage show bike or museum display

4. Use with display or resale a possibility

5. Extend useful life of frame, authenticity not a concern

6. Upgrade or customize

Add your choices up. Scores will fall from 3 to 16. Find your number in the options below for a recommended option and cost range:

Score Recommendation Approximate cost

3 to 5 Preservation services $ 50 to $150

5 to 8 Touch-up $ 75 to $350

7 to12 Accurate Refinish $200 to $1200

11 to16 Custom, Simple to Wild $130 & up

Here's how I scored the Proteus: Category 1, it gets a 2.5 rare and interesting, but not a high value piece. It's in poor shape with significant rust, maybe not as bad as that sounds, so call it a 4 as a compromise between 3 and 5. My intention is to keep it running and ride the snot out of it, 5. Add that up and we get 12.5. That puts it right on the overlap between "Accurate Refinish" and license to go custom.

Jim Cunningham may not have resolved my indecision over how to approach this, but he sure did a good job of justifying my ambivalence. He even provided a mathematical formula based on years of experience to prove it, too.

In case I became inclined to solve my conundrum by decisively doing something simple, the internets showed me this. Go look at the whole series. In fact, go look at all his bikes.